Valentine
by TinySprite
Summary: Won't you be mine? Snippets of how the Sigma 6 crew dealt with Valentine's Day.


TinySprite: (eyes fixed intently on mailbox)

Heavy Duty: She's not giving up is she?

Long Range: From her own words, not until midnight at least.

Spirit: I've got the disclaimer.

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite does not own GI Joe, which is copyright of Hasbro. This plot was inspired by the holiday.

(-)

Valentine's Day was received mildly on the Sea Titan overall. There were some minor decorations in the hallways that received the most foot traffic, the main kitchen was making a special dessert, and there were plenty of rumors of who was going out with who.

Individual reactions, however, were a whole different matter.

(=)

Scarlet woke up that morning to a lovely surprise of a half-dozen roses in a clear vase on her dresser, with a box of her favorite chocolates next to it. Smiling happily to herself, she checked the card anyway, despite already knowing who the gifts were from. The card only confirmed it and contained a sweet message inside.

Bending forward to smell the roses, she thought of her own gift for her boyfriend and smiled again, a touch of wickedness coming through. If Snake Eyes didn't enjoy it, then she was losing her touch. With her plans for tonight dancing in her mind, she moved to get dressed for the day.

When she finally left her room, Scarlet was still debating if she should tease her boyfriend throughout the day or let him be until the evening. At the very least she should thank him for the gifts, which would give her a great opportunity for flirting, but at the same time had a chance to ruin her surprise. Another smile came onto her face as she started another series of plans for today.

Snake Eyes was going to love this, the redhead was sure of it.

(=)

Duke glared at his paperwork, trying to force it to complete itself. When it didn't, he had to remind himself that shooting it was out of the question. The large stacks seemed to mock him, laying there before him, untouched by pen or white out. The headache he'd had for the past hour throbbed at his temples, giving the blond the sensation that his own brain was punishing him at this point.

So maybe staying up all night to catch up on his paperwork hadn't been the best of ideas, but he'd done it before and he could do it again. Reaching for his by now cold coffee, his hand only met with air. Looking up revealed one of the many tech girls, her name escaped him at the moment, taking away his old cup to replace it with a fresh one.

She gave him a cheerful if slightly nervous smile as she did so, which he returned in kind as he accepted the styrofoam cup from her. As he raised it to take a sip, something on the cup stopped him. Holding the cup slightly away revealed it had several red hearts drawn on it, presumably with a Sharpie. Looking back at the girl showed that she was blushing, the red on her face deepening as she stammered, "H-happy Valentine's Day!"

He blinked as she scampered away, not having a chance to thank her or return the sentiment. Duke made a note to do so once he could think straight again, finally taking a sip of coffee only to wince, grumbling, "Too sweet."

The blond still smiled as he returned to his work though.

(=)

Hi-Tech bit his lower lip, eyes darting to the time again. He hated waiting. Time always seemed to stretch on and on and it was at that last second when one made the decision to stop waiting that stuff finally happened. He was sitting in his personal room, on his personal laptop (which was had near-insane levels of protection to prevent spy-ware and viruses), waiting on his Valentine's Day date.

Well...more like his avatar was. This MMO was decent, but normally wouldn't have kept his interest beyond a few weeks. What had kept him around the last three months was actually another player, who was surprisingly knowledgeable about a lot of things and played an amazingly good tank, despite her somewhat childish screen name. During a raid the previous week, they'd agreed to meet up at a predetermined in-game tavern so as to do the Valentine's Day only quests, many of which required a partner.

So here he was, nervously waiting on a girl for a date that wasn't actually a date...or was it? Just as his mind started to drift while pondering on that, her character finally walked in. A smile broke out on his face, growing wider when he realized she too had gotten all new armor for today. They exchanged some in-game messages, mainly greetings and ensuring the other was ready for all the day's events.

As they set off to begin, Hi-Tech found himself wondering yet again if he should ask if they could arrange a real life met. Shaking his head, he focused in on their first quest, which was turning out to be a doozy of fetch and deliver mini-quests. Still, it was worth shuffling projects around to allow himself a large block of time so as to do this, despite what he might be thinking later on while playing catch up with his work.

(=)

When the alarm began its first round of high-pitched beeps, Spirit was quick to shut it up. Glancing at the time, he just yawned and flopped back down into bed. Despite it being Valentine's Day, he didn't have a sweetheart here on the ship and didn't particularly care to get up earlier than he had to today.

Having recently returned from a mission, he felt he could get away with at least an hour of extra sleep before having to get up and face the day. Billy, on the other hand, had other ideas, squawking at him angrily as the falcon took the short flight from his roost to Spirit's bed. Groaning, but knowing this was a battle he wouldn't win, the tracker grudgingly got up from bed.

Pulling on some clean clothes, he left his room with Billy sitting regally on his shoulder. While Spirit was making his way up to the deck so as to let Billy get his morning flight, a visibly irritated Tunnel Rat stormed by them in the hall. When Billy refrained from his now customary peck at the male redhead, Spirit knew better than to talk to the other right now.

He made a note to talk to him later though, to see what was wrong. It was probably nothing, but it wouldn't hurt to ask anyway. A short while later found him on deck, Billy contently flying in the air and Spirit trying to stay away as he leaned against the doorway. He wasn't sure how long he'd been out there before there was a light nudge at his arm.

Glancing over showed one of the ship's female mechanics, offering a cup of coffee while holding one for herself. While he gratefully accepted and drank from the cup, she glanced up at Billy, "Beautiful bird. Peregrine falcon right?"

Spirit nodded, "Yes and thank you."

The girl stepped a little closer to him, smiling as she said, "You know, I have a thing for birds. I loved them as a kid, still do now. Would you mind telling me some more about him?"

The Joe tracker glanced at her, "No, I wouldn't..."

She caught the unspoken question and smiled again, "Just call me Axle."

He returned her smile, already feeling that today was looking better, "Well, what would you like to know?"

(=)

Having been in his room since the morning, stewing in his bad mood, Tunnel Rat wasn't sure that he wouldn't punch the next person he saw. So, as both a better outlet for his anger and because he needed to go there anyway, he changed and grabbed the things he needed before making his way to the ship's small gym.

Thankfully there were only a few people there, including Heavy Duty who was currently on one of the treadmills. Tunnel Rat took the one next to him, hoping they wouldn't have to talk for a while. His friend took one look at him and asked, "What's up with you?"

Rat let out an irritated sigh, but answered anyway, "Remember the gift I sent home to my girlfriend last week?"

Heavy nodded, finishing his run on the machine and stepping off to take a brief break, "Yeah?"

Tunnel Rat growled as he began his warm-up trot, "There was a mix-up or something and she's not going to get it until maybe next week, at the earliest."

The larger man stared at him, "You're kidding."

The redhead shook his head, deciding to push himself into running early this time, "Nope. I checked its location this morning on the shipping company's site with that code they gave me. It's somewhere in Kansas right now when it should be in New York."

Heavy Duty shook his head, taking a sip from his water bottle before asking, "So, does she know?"

Tunnel Rat slumped, somehow still managing to run, "No...with the way she gets around today, she'll take it as me admitting I forgot to buy her a gift and got her something at the last minute..."

They shared an uncomfortable silence, during which Rat finished with the treadmill and stepped off of it. The two of them moved over to the weight machines, Heavy taking the position of spotter for Rat while he did bench presses. Finally though, the redhead broke the silence, at the end of his set, "So, how about you?"

Heavy Duty shrugged, "Sent mine out about the same time you did. Haven't checked yet so I'm not sure if I'm in the clear or not."

As he slid off the bench to help load more weight onto the bar, Tunnel Rat asked, "So we're both technically dead men."

Heavy shook his head, "Nah, probably just you. I used a different company."

Tunnel Rat gave him a glare as Heavy moved to lay on the bench and begin his own set, "I hate you, you know that right?"

His friend snorted, "Yeah yeah. But I'm still in the clear."

The redhead grumbled something as he spotted the other, feeling his bad mood return. At least it wasn't as bad as it had been earlier.

(=)

Kamakura crept through the ventilation system that went throughout the Sea Titan, constantly double-checking his position against a map in his head. This was vital that he not be caught and he'd taken great care to ensure he wouldn't be, even forsaking a light on the off-chance he'd be seen.

Coming to a fork, he took the left path, pausing briefly to eavesdrop on a conversation that came from a nearby vent. The young ninja pushed himself forward after a few seconds. He had to finish this and besides, he couldn't really hear anything.

Soon coming to another fork, he took the right path this time and came face to face with a someone, which turned out to be a just as surprised Jynx. They were silent for a few brief minutes before she asked, "Where are you going?"

He quickly replied, "Nowhere! Where are you going?"

Her reply was just as quick, "Nowhere."

It was silent again, this time seeming to stretch on longer. Kamakura felt himself starting to sweat, wondering if she knew. She seemed to be just as nervous, which surprised him. Jynx normally composed herself better, so what could have her keyed up like this?

Seeming to come to a decision, rustling noises came from the kunoichi's position. After just a minute, she located one of his hands and pressed a card into his grip, "Happy Valentine's Day, Kamakura."

He blinked in surprise, not having expected this. Swallowing a sudden lump in his throat, he too located what he needed and returned the gesture, giving Jynx the card he'd gotten for her, "Happy Valentine's Day to you too Jynx."

Before another silence could fall, he quickly asked, "So, want to get a late lunch with me?"

He could hear the smile in her voice, "Sure."

They agreed to meet in the smaller kitchen and began to make their way out of there. Kamakura could feel himself grinning like an idiot the whole time.

(=)

Snake Eyes shook his head, rubbing at a sore spot in his neck. Today had been odd, well, not as odd as some of their more extreme days but it definitely was stranger than most. Eh, it was Valentine's Day, the oddness was kind of a given. At least, dinner had passed by without much of an incident.

Although he wasn't sure how he felt about the blossoming relationship between his apprentices. Part of him was happy for them while another part wanted to nip it in the bud. As he made his way back to his room, the ninja decided to just be happy for them. They were both responsible and to be honest, when he gave it more thought, it was surprising that this hadn't developed before.

Thinking of relationships made his thoughts drift to Scarlet, who had definitely been acting differently today. A light flirt here, a suggestive touch there...he had his hopes up for a good night tonight. Coming to his room, he opened the door and found a box on his bed.

Feeling his curiosity peak, he stepped towards it, only to twist around at the sound of his door being shut. His mind stopped properly working about then, as Scarlet leaned against the now closed door at just the right angle to best show off her new...attire.

She smiled suggestively at him, lightly plucking at one delicate seeming strap on her shoulder, "Do you like it?"

Snake Eyes nodded eagerly. The female redhead pushed off from the door and walked towards him in a way that made his blood begin to boil. Once close enough, she leaned in to trail one hand from his shoulder to his hip in a way that she knew excited him and whispered, "Show me."

Needless to say her new clothes didn't last the night.

(=)

Long Range did feel a little guilty about being one of the few off the ship on leave, especially since he was able to go to a bar and have a few drinks, but he'd asked for it weeks in advance. Besides, the pretty girl he was having a promising conversation with was making a lot of that guilt fade away

Especially when she invited him back to her place for a late dinner and coffee, her body language promising more. He definitely no longer felt any guilt some hours later, as he drifted off to sleep next to her warm, soft body.

It was decidedly one of his better Valentine's Days, that was for sure.

(-)

TinySprite: (still staring at the mailbox) Sorry if it seems rushed, I didn't want this becoming multi-chaptered! Feedback is very much appreciated!

Sigma 6 team: (have all given up on her, each off doing their own thing)


End file.
